Decision on future location of very specialist children’s cancer treatment centre

Evelina London Children’s Hospital has been chosen as the future location for the Children’s Cancer Centre for south London and much of the south east of England.

This is the decision of leaders for NHS England (London and South East regions), taken at their decision making meeting on 14 March 2024. It comes after a rigorous process to decide the location of the future centre, including a public consultation and an options-appraisal process involving clinical advisers, parents, charities, nurses and research staff.

A specialist children’s hospital which treats 120,000 children a year, Evelina London’s wide range of services, support for hospitals across its catchment area to look after poorly young patients, and strong performance in research are just some of the factors that showed it is the right place for the future Children’s Cancer Centre. Its experienced, expert teams will work with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which provide the current centre, to minimise disruption for patients and ensure a smooth handover.

NHS England, London Medical Director Dr Chris Streather said:

“I would like to thank everyone who took part in our public consultation, and for the valuable feedback we received.

“This is a positive step forward for children’s cancer care – at the new location, children who need intensive care will be able to get it on site and the future centre will stand ready to give cutting-edge treatments that require intensive care on site, like other major centres worldwide.

“Service reconfiguration is rarely easy, but the decision taken today will ensure that children with cancer in south London and much of the south east will continue to receive the best possible care now and into the future.”

Very specialist children’s cancer services will move from The Royal Marsden to Evelina London, once everything required for the future centre is in place. This will not be before October 2026, and there will be no sudden changes to children’s care in the meantime.

As part of this move, it was agreed that conventional radiotherapy services will in future be provided at University College Hospital in central London.

More information is on NHS England’s website.

What was this consultation about?

When a child is ill with cancer it’s stressful for them, their parents and families. As the NHS England leaders for London and for South East region, we want children to get the best care in the best way.

To provide the very best care for children with cancer, specialist children’s cancer services currently provided by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust need to move to be on the same site as a children’s intensive care unit.

NHS England (London and South East regions) ran a 12-week consultation on the proposed future location of very specialist cancer services for children living in south London and much of the south east.

We are grateful for all the responses we received, many of which came from children and young people with experience of cancer or their families, and from staff who look after children and young people.